Joshua Paschall

October 13, 2017

8th Period

“We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from

ourselves.” The meaning behind this quote by Barbara Jordan in incorporated in the three stories

of collection one. Each story is different and expresses the quote in its own way, however the

meaning over the acceptance of different people stays the same. The quote expresses that if we

can learn to accept people who may look different or may have different views/perspectives, we

can all live in a more peaceful and stable world.

The first part of collection one is broken into two parts with a court opinion statement—

“Texas v. Johnson: Majority Opinion” by William J. Brennan—and a newspaper editorial—

“American Flag Stands for Tolerance” by Ronald J. Allen. The topic of debate is whether

punishing someone for burning the American flag is a violation of our constitutional rights. The

court opinion believes that no one should be punished for burning the flag, however that person

should be persuaded that he/she is wrong. This shows that the court has some level in believing

that we should accept people who feel differently about what the American flag represents. In the

editorial, he completely expresses that the flag symbolizes tolerance and that we have the have

the right to express how we feel towards the flag. This is shown through the statement, “The

ultimate irony would have been to punish views expressed by burning the flag that stands for the

right to those expressions.” The quote plays out in this because different people have different

attitudes about the flag and we, as human beings, must accept these different thoughts.

The next story of this collection is titled “What, of this Goldfish, Would You Wish?” by
Etgar Keret. This story is about Sergei Goralick finding a magic goldfish granting him three

wishes, but his fear of being alone causes him to hold off on making the last wish. When he

comes across a young man—Yoni—who’s making a documentary on a magic goldfish granting

three wishes, he asks and films Sergei on what he’d wish for. Sergei becomes reluctant to be in

the documentary thinking that Yoni wants to take the goldfish away and accidentally kills him.

The quote plays out in this because Sergei having difficulty accepting people different from him

caused him to misunderstand Yoni on his intentions. The story states that when Sergei lived in

Russia, the KBG banged on his door and asked him questions. His experience with this is the

most likely reasoning for him being wary of strangers or those who are different from him.

Learning to accept those who are different than you can help with understanding what people

really mean.

Overall, the quote by Barbara Jordan made some sort of connection in each of the

stories. Humans being able to accept those who are different from themselves is the main theme

throughout collection one. The stories, “American Flag Stands for Tolerance” and “What, of this

Goldfish, Would You Wish?” demonstrate the meaning of the quote well in their points on

accepting other people’s views and the people themselves.